Regardless of the importance of accreditation and the role faculty play in a such process, not much attention was given to those in dental colleges This study aimed to explore faculty perceptions of accreditation in the College of Dental Medicine and its impact, the challenges that hinder their involvement in accreditation, and countermeasures to mitigate these barriers using a convergent mixed methods approach. The interviewees were faculty who hold administrative positions (purposeful sample). The remaining faculty were invited for the survey using convenience sampling. Quantitative data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests at 0.05 significance. A consensus was achieved on the positive impact of accreditation with an emphasis on the collective responsibility of faculty for the entire process. Yet their involvement was not duly recognized in teaching load, promotion, and incentives. Quality Improvement and Sustainability Tools and Benchmarking were identified as common themes for the value of accreditation to institutions and faculty. Global ranking and credibility as well as seamless service were key themes for institutional accreditation, while education tools and guidance or unifying tools were central themes for faculty. Regarding the challenges, five themes were recognized: Lack of Resources, Rigorous Process, Communication Lapse, Overwhelming Workload, and Leadership Style and Working Environment. To mitigate these challenges, Providing Enough Resources and Leadership Style and Working Environment were the identified themes. This research endeavors to achieve a better understanding of faculty perceptions to ease a process that requires commitment, resources, and readiness to change.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of E-integrated marketing communication on consumers’ purchasing behavior of mobile services. The population for the study involves all orange telecom mobile service customers in Jordan. Three hundred ninety-five questionnaires were distributed to orange telecom customers in Jordan, however, 375 only returned, which has been used for analysis. structural equation modeling using programs such as AMOS was used to investigate the impact of E-integrated marketing communication on consumers’ purchasing behavior. Data was collected through questionnaires was sent to study sample. The results of the study showed that E-integrated marketing communication had a positive impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior. Based on the findings, the study recommended that Orange Telecom should focus more on e-public relations to create a favorable image of the company among different groups of consumers, which can potentially enhance their purchasing behavior towards its mobile services. It is imperative for Orange Telecom to prioritize its e-integrated marketing communication strategy to effectively reach out to its target audience and influence their purchase decisions.
This study investigates the relationship between hydrological processes, watershed management, and road infrastructure resilience, focusing on the impact of flooding on roads intersecting with streams in River Nile State, Sudan. Situated between 16.5° N to 18.5° N latitude and 33° E to 34° E longitude, this region faces significant flooding challenges that threaten its ecological and economic stability. Using precise Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and advanced hydrological modeling, the research aims to identify optimal flood mitigation solutions, such as overpass bridges. The study quantifies the total road length in the area at 3572.279 km, with stream orders distributed as follows: First Order at 2276.79 km (50.7%), Second Order at 521.48 km (11.6%), Third Order at 331.26 km (7.4%), and Fourth Order at 1359.92 km (30.3%). Approximately 27% (12 out of 45) of the identified road flooding points were situated within third- and fourth-order streams, mainly along the Atbara-Shendi Road and near Al-Abidiya and Merowe. Blockages varied in distance, with the longest at 256 m in Al-Abidiya, and included additional measurements of 88, 49, 112, 106, 66, 500, and 142 m. Some locations experienced partial flood damage despite having water culverts at 7 of these points, indicating possible design flaws or insufficient hydrological analysis during construction. The findings suggest that enhanced scrutiny, potentially using high-resolution DEMs, is essential for better vulnerability assessment and management. The study proposes tailored solutions to protect infrastructure, promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Effective small and medium enterprise (SME) leadership demands creative solutions to ensure organisations survive and thrive during the turbulent times that COVID-19 continues to bring. This paper explores how SME leaders (in micro and small organisations) prioritise and access the skills and development needed to provide effective and sustainable leadership to organisations, focusing on the role of resilience and the benefits it provides. Participants were selected through purposive and snowballing sampling. Online surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted and provided qualitative data that contributes to an understanding of the role of resilience and the view of participants as to what is needed to effectively respond to a dynamic environment. Evidence shows that SME leaders prioritise learning and development opportunities that provide demonstrable benefits throughout the organisation. Building business resilience remains a fuzzy concept; however, viewing resilience as a multi-level construct offers benefits when designing and delivering development opportunities. It has been found that networking, partnerships, and relationship building promote resilience and may offer a solution to how to embed resilience building into development opportunities that SME leaders value and wish to engage with. This article contributes by illustrating and exploring leadership development within SMEs during a period of unexpected and untested uncertainty. The pandemic caused major shock waves within business communities, and SMEs were significantly affected. The research is limited in that it is expected to be a once-in-a lifetime event, and as such conditions may not be replicable, learning opportunities for other ‘shock’ events are possible. The findings of this paper have relevance to practice in that, while the event may be one-off, shocks to the business environment are not.
In Costa Rica, there is no explicit recommendation from the competent authorities for the use of a specific phantom, so experts must explore what suppliers offer, among which the Normi Mam Digital phantom from PTW stands out. This article presents the results of the dosimetry and image quality control applied to the Normi Mam Digital phantom to validate it as equipment that complies with the recommendations of the Human Health Series No. 17. The results obtained were satisfactory, proving that the equipment complies with the tolerances recommended by international health bodies.
The main objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between increases in freight costs and inflation in the markets due to the increases reflected in the prices of the products in some economies in destination ports such as the United States, Europe, Japan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and South Korea. We use fractionally integrated methods and Granger causality test to calculate the correlation between these indicators. The results indicate that, after a significant drop in inflation in 2020, probably due to the confinement caused by the pandemic, the increases observed in inflation and freight costs are expected to be transitory given their stationary behavior. We also find a close correlation between both indicators in Europe, the United States and South Africa.
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